Canon PowerShot A550

What do you look for in a budget camera? User-friendly interface for one, and most importantly good picture composition. Now here is a camera that doesn't complicate things for users. An apt entry-level camera is what it aims to be. We ran it through a thorough check. Let's analyze them.

Design
The make is similar to many of the other Canon cameras in the A-series. The A550 comes in an L-shaped body, which makes gripping the camera quite easy. The brushed silver finish, which is a little bland for my taste, is just what the A-series cameras are all about. Yet, how dashing can a budget camera really be?

The camera measures 91.2 x 64.0 x 43.1 mm and weighs about 160g. By any standards, this makes for a bulky buy. And you certainly can’t carry it around in your pocket. However, this gets compensated to a certain extent by the fact that it works on replaceable batteries. Hence, the weight!!

At the top of the A550 you will find the power on/off button, the Shutter release button surrounded by the zoom dial. Also sharing the same space is the menu dial. This you will find in all the A-series cameras and what it basically does is allows you to choose between the different modes at the turn of the dial. Nice!

The back of the camera contains a smallish screen and the remaining set of buttons is placed on the right. The navigational key also acts as the quick access to things like the flash, ISO settings, micro mode and burst mode. Placed between the navigational keys, the function set button gives access to all the functions and features of the camera. On the top left you will find the quick review button. The display change button is beside the menu button, and the optical viewfinder is placed right above the screen.

The rubber band on the left side of the camera protects the AV out jack, DC in and the USB slot.